Jordanstown tested to the limit by Athlone

Jordanstown 0-13 Athlone IT 1-8

Athlone IT made life difficult for the northerners, though, and were left wondering what would have happened had their most influential players Trevor Mortimer and James Gill been fully available.

Gill was suspended, Mortimer came on for the last 10 minutes, although a heavily-strapped left leg curtailed his mobility.

The home side were disappointed by referee Brian Crowe, and had a few more decisions went their way, it might have been a different story.

In particular, Athlone felt Crowe should have allowed more injury time after Gary Dolan snatched a late goal to keep their slim hopes alive.

That goal, which came in the 60th minute, was down to the persistence and hard work of Derry O'Brien in working the ball through Jordanstown's stern defence. The second half was so stop-start Athlone felt they had another few minutes to bridge the two-point gap but the final whistle went soon afterwards.

Had Athlone managed to breach the Jordanstown back-line earlier, the game would have been more of a contest. Despite being fairly close for most of the affair, Jordanstown always looked to have that little extra class to pull away from their opponents.

Inspired by Armagh duo Philip Loughran and Martin O'Rourke and their tough-tackling centre-half Derry star Padraig O'Kane, Jordanstown managed to score just when they needed to.

O'Rourke looks a super prospect, and it was his intelligent passing that was the platform for many of

Jordanstown's scores. Throughout, the Midland college found it difficult to cope with how well O'Rourke linked with Micheal Walsh.

The home side started better, and when John Cullinane curled the ball over the bar in the 12th minute, the IT were 03-01 up. That was to be their last score until the 28th minute as Jordanstown found their feet.

When Walsh put the finishing touches to O'Rourke's beavering work in the 26th minute, the 2001 champions were 06-03 ahead. And although Derry O'Brien and Fergal Wilson brought Athlone to within a point of parity, 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval, the difference was illustrated in the second half.

Jordanstown were able to take three Tyrone county players Cormac and Enda McGinley and Ciaran McCrory off the bench while Armagh star John Toal watched all the action from the sideline.

With Walsh's feet on fire, Jordanstown raced into an early lead in the second half, stretching it into a five-point advantage, 0-13 to 0-8, before Dolan's strike set up the frantic finish that most of the crowd thought was cut short.

Scorers for UUJ: M Walsh (0-6, 3 frees), P Bradley (0-3, 2 frees), M O'Rourke (0-2, 1 free), K Madden, S Kavanagh (0-1 each).

Athlone: G Dolan (1-0), F Wilson (0-2, both frees), M Connor (0-2, both frees), J Cullinane, D O'Brien (0-1 each), M Lowether (0-2).

UUJ: R Gallagher, I Hurley, G O'Reilly, M Anderson, E Redden, P O'Kane, L Doyle, P Loughran, P Rouse; M O'Rourke, M Walsh, S Kavanagh, P Bradley, S Kernan, K Madden.

Subs: C McRory for Reddan (h-t), E McGinley for Kernan (41 mins), C McGinley for Rouse (55 mins), R O'Donoghue for Madden (56 mins).

ATHLONE IT: E Farrell, G Glennon, M Comer, G Rafferty, A McPadden, D Blake, B Regan, J Cullinane, J O'Callaghan; R Clyne, G Dolan, M Connor, F Wilson, M Lowether, D O'Brien. S

ubs: PK Kilcummin for Blake(14 mins), T Mortimer for Connor(49 mins)

Referee: B Crowe (Cavan).